“You’re asking me… whether I lack women?” Upon hearing this, Zhu Que’s eyebrows moved slightly, revealing a meaningful smile.

“You, you can make me do anything… brother…” Xiao Ran’s face rippled with an extremely ugly smile. “Any kind of service, I know them all… Can you please not kill me?”

“Oh.” Zhu Que gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and expressed surprise. “Xiao Ran, do you know? I’ve killed countless people, and this is the first time I’ve heard such a plea for mercy.”

Xiao Ran tremblingly extended her hand and grabbed Zhu Que’s pale arm.

“Brother… I, I’m not begging for mercy… I want to become ‘one of your own’ with you…” Xiao Ran said, not knowing whether she was crying or laughing. “I had no idea there were rules for being a ‘Zodiac’… I, I just made a small mistake… There’s no need for this…”

“Ah!!” Zhu Que suddenly let out a loud shout, startling everyone present.

Xiao Ran directly sat down on the ground in fright.

Zhu Que slowly revealed a smile and said: “Xiao Ran! I’ve thought of it!”

“Thought, thought of what?”

“I can let you choose for yourself!!” Zhu Que said with a smile. “Right now I have two paths in my hands. One is ‘life,’ one is ‘death.’ How will you choose?!”

He slowly clenched both his left and right hands into fists and held them up before Xiao Ran.

“Complete death… and complete life. Which do you choose?” Zhu Que looked extremely excited. He crouched down and looked at Xiao Ran with an expectant expression.

Upon hearing this, Qi Xia’s expression changed.

This was a deadly question.

He gave everyone a look, and they all backed away.

The Zhu Que before them was clearly an existence that surpassed the “Zodiacs.” Among the group, only Qi Xia’s memories had encountered Zhu Que. No one knew how to respond.

Zhang Shan frowned, slowly calculating in his mind—if one day he were to be hunted by this monster… would “Echo” work on him?

“Complete… life?” Xiao Ran asked tremblingly. “What does that mean?”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Que’s face, which had been smiling, immediately lost all expression: “Xiao Ran, I told you to ‘choose,’ not to ‘ask.'”

“Ah! Yes, yes, yes…” Xiao Ran hurriedly nodded. “I, I choose ‘complete life’…”

Qi Xia helplessly shook his head: “She lost.”

“What?” Doctor Zhao beside him was startled.

Then they saw Zhu Que immediately reveal a happy expression after hearing this: “Good! Good! Xiao Ran, I can let you live forever! But in exchange, I’ll take your ‘sanity’!”

With that, he waved his hand at Xiao Ran’s forehead.

Xiao Ran’s terrified expression slowly disappeared, revealing an exceptionally indifferent face.

Before long, she stood up expressionlessly, then looked at Qi Xia with a vacant stare, walked forward and asked: “Brother, do you want a woman? I’m a kindergarten teacher. Just give me money.”

Qi Xia slowly took a step back.

He understood what “living forever” meant—this person would not be destroyed along with “Terminus,” but would instead remain here forever, becoming a complete and utter “native resident.”

Not only did she lose the opportunity to leave, but she also lost all her sanity.

She couldn’t become a “god” and wouldn’t become a “Zodiac” either. She would continue living here by instinct alone.

Seeing that Qi Xia ignored her, she walked over to Zhang Shan: “Brother, you’re so muscular, that costs extra. If you pay extra, I’ll go home with you.”

Zhang Shan also took a step back.

Qi Xia sighed.

Perhaps for Xiao Ran, this was the ending she brought upon herself.

“No one wants me…” Xiao Ran blinked. “Then I’ll go back to the classroom first. I’m a teacher, after all.”

She slowly pushed through the crowd and walked into the distance.

Doctor Zhao seemed to want to say something to her, but when the words reached his lips, he didn’t speak.

“Haha!” Zhu Que laughed heartily. “I’ve done a good deed today! I actually didn’t kill anyone!”

Qi Xia slowly looked toward him.

He was too insane.

Once the question of “complete life” versus “complete death” was posed, Xiao Ran’s fate was already sealed.

Whether as a native resident or as a Zodiac who broke the rules, she would never appear in the interview room again.

Qi Xia came back to his senses and asked Zhu Que: “Does this ‘game’ still count now?”

“Oh? Oh!” Zhu Que nodded, then shook his head. “The ‘game’ is no more. The venue is abandoned.”

“Hurry and save them.” Qi Xia said in a low voice to Zhang Shan.

Zhang Shan quickly nodded and ran to the door, beginning to ram it.

But the door was full of water inside, creating tremendous resistance.

At this moment, Zhu Que stared at Qi Xia for a bit, and his expression suddenly turned cold: “Oh… I just realized, isn’t this Qi Xia?”

Qi Xia anticipated that Zhu Que wouldn’t easily let him go, so he simply stopped avoiding and asked: “I also just realized, isn’t this Zhu Que?”

“Qi Xia… how come you’re here?” Zhu Que asked with a sneer.

“I can be wherever I want to be.” Qi Xia replied. “Where do you want me to go?”

“How tragic, Qi Xia, how tragic.” The expression on Zhu Que’s face was extremely smug. “You don’t even know why you’ve appeared here. As a mortal who cannot ‘Echo,’ how tragic.”

“How do you know I can’t ‘Echo’?”

Qi Xia knew full well that opportunities to converse with “Zhu Que” were rare and few between. He needed to extract as much information as possible from the other party.

“Hahahahahaha!” Zhu Que was amused by Qi Xia. “What are you trying so hard to maintain?”

He walked over and patted Qi Xia’s chest, asking: “Are you planning to meet ‘Heavenly Dragon’ with this fragile body? How many lives do you have to gamble with him?”

Qi Xia’s mind rapidly contemplated what to say next. He was only afraid that one wrong step would lead to more wrong steps. If the direction of the conversation veered off course, the other party might simply leave directly.

“Then according to you… how should I go meet ‘Heavenly Dragon’?”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Que once again revealed a sneering expression. He extended his hand and pointed at the filthy “Man-Rabbit” mask on the ground: “Put it on. Gradually accumulate human lives to strengthen your body. Only then can you reach the peak, my dear Qi Xia.”

Qi Xia bit his teeth after hearing this.

“Are you toying with me? If I put on the ‘Zodiac’ mask, my final outcome will only be becoming ‘Heavenly Dragon’s’ dog.” Qi Xia said aggressively. “Even the conditions for strengthening the body involve signing a contract with ‘Heavenly Dragon.’ How could I possibly reach the peak?”

“Pfft…” A crazed smile appeared on Zhu Que’s pale cheeks. “Hahahaha! Qi Xia, you truly are yourself! Even though you’ve become like this, you’re still pretending. I’m Zhu Que! Can your deception trick me?”

Qi Xia frowned slightly. This step was still wrong.

Although Zhu Que was insane, he wasn’t stupid.

“Qi Xia, just rot here.” Under everyone’s gaze, Zhu Que slowly floated toward the sky. “Even if everyone else gets out, you can only rot here. Remember this well—because you are Qi Xia, you can only die here.”

Qi Xia had heard this sentence once before, but hearing it again now gave him a new feeling.

“Zhu Que, who exactly did I offend?” Qi Xia asked.

“Who did you offend?” Zhu Que floated higher and higher, his voice gradually becoming ethereal. “Isn’t offending ‘Heavenly Dragon’ enough?”

As soon as the words fell, his entire being suddenly disappeared.

“I offended ‘Heavenly Dragon’?”